Robert Forsyth Smith was born on 25th October 1922 at 5 Doune Terrace. This is now 183 Wilton Street in Kelvinside.
His parents were Robert and Jessie Mina Brook – they had been married in 1906 in the Gorbals district.
Robert senior’s job was manager of a factory making “aerated water”.
By 1935, Robert’s parents had moved to 1 Reid Avenue (which is off Milngavie Road, just north of Majestic Wines).
In 1944 he was a sergeant with 59 Squadron of the RAF, based at Ballykelly in Northern Ireland. The squadron was equipped with long-range Liberator aircraft which flew anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic to help protect convoys of ships travelling to and from Britain.
On 24th February the aircraft he was on as wireless operator was lost without trace; there were no survivors.
Robert is one of the 20,000 names on the Runnymede Memorial which is for RAF personnel with no known grave.
Of the other crew members, several were Canadian and we have photos of two of them. The first is Andrew Neville:
The second is Douglas Strachan:
